Saturday, December 30, 2006

Of Slow Internet, Coffee and Old Movies.

Since the Internet connection got disrupted a couple of days ago from the earthquake in Taiwan, I've been spending quite the little time sitting in front of the computer doing who-knows-what! I mean, the connection is so slow that it takes almost forever to load my Flickr page and nearly impossible to sing in into MSN. Even if I managed to sign in, which I did for a brief moment like just now, instant messages just go 'poof' in the air, leaving the other party dazed by what I'm trying to say. But I guess the whole Internet hold up is the main cause of the chaos in most offices with working men and women running amok around cubicles, pulling their neckties and hair in frustration for taking about half an hour just to get an email sent and CEOs wailing helplessly and beating the ground at the end-year riffraff being hung up by the sudden break down of the ever so trusted Internet!

Still, I'm not convinced by the chaotic scene that mom suggested happened in her office after tonight's visit to the local Starbucks where I saw people solving online sudokus with their laptops while sipping on their latte. Starbucks was practically filled with people that for a moment, I thought they were holding a Christmas party and drinks were on the house. It had me fooled, you know, with the tinsels and Santa hats still lying around their counters where the line never seemed to have moved an inch. Frustrated, I didn't get my coffee, which is surprising, considering how many people were walking in and out of the place with cups of coffees held near to their chest. I wasn't comfortable with the crowd, I guess. Besides, there wasn't any free spaces left for me to enjoy my coffee. All the seats in the house were occupied by businessmen and sales executives, trying to sell their thing, if not, by the local after work crowd who's getting some steam off on a Friday night.

Judging from the scene at Starbucks, I assumed that the Internet must be up and running already, albeit a little slow it may be. I wasn't even bothered to check when I got home, instead, I got glued to the TV when I saw Must Love Dogs on HBO after a short glimpse of the ending part of Taxi. I've never watched it before and after reading the short info, decided to give it a shot. I mean, why not? It's a Friday night and I'm alone and a romantic movie seems to be the best remedy to cure the heart (if it was ever broken in the first place!). Not exactly a fan of either Diane Lane (whom, to me, looks a lot like Catherine Zeta Jones) or John Cusack (never got the chance to finish America's Sweetheart either!), if you ask me but it was a nice movie, nevertheless. Pretty much deals with reality as well. They've got the whole online dating thing going on. Who ever knew that online dating could be so effective in looking for the perfect one? Especially when you have your profile in, as many as, 10 websites!

After the credits, I flipped the channel over to StarMovies and caught an hour (or less) of Alien Vs. Predator. I've watched the movie before but I wasn't going to sleep yet and suddenly, the movie felt so intriguing that it became hard for me to switch channels. Must be all that corrosive green ooze, dripping saliva and freaky looking beings with tails, popping out from the human stomach that attracted me. Seems like the perfect combination for a geek like me at that time. Couldn't remember when was the last time I watched the movie that it all seemed new to me. I even screwed my face up and almost barfed when those little monsters hatched from their eggs. Or maybe it was the sheer joy of watching their heads being blown up by guns, when their ooze get splattered all over the place! Then I thought, it must be scary to be in the middle of a war between two unknown creatures that we never knew existed. Must be painful also to be scarred on the cheek with the letter 'T'! Seriously, sci-fi movies aren't my kind of thing.

And then, I managed to catch another hour of Anacondas : The Hunt For The Blood Orchid on Cinemax after the credits rolled on after AVP. I've also watched the movie before on DVD, a while back I suppose. Was slightly unsure about what's going to happen next in the movie. Not sure what it was, though, that held me back from turning the channel or switching the TV off and go to bed. Man, it felt like I was just watching it for the first time. My heart was pumping as well when the anacondas were on a hunting rampage, chasing down the next victim for dinner. And I must admit, watching the final four of the survivors, desperately searching for the way out when the got stuck in the underground cave, kind of bring back old memories of my Gua Tempurung trip about a year ago. Crawling (sometimes swimming) under sharp and possibly murderous stalactites which are an inch away from contact, submerging completely into the ice-cold water and with only a flashlight to lead the path ahead. Yeah, those were great times. Of course, mine didn't involved running breathlessly away from a flesh-eating gigantic snake!

Trust me, I'm not the kind of person who can watch a movie for over a million times no matter how good the movie could be. I just wouldn't get the thrill of knowing what's going to happen next and memorized lines. But this time, it was weird that I watched 3 movies in a night. Kind of an amazing feat, I think. At least now I know, the internet connection's much better, compared to the past few days. I can finally log in into my Flickr page (not sure about posting photos yet) and my feeds are all up and working already. Of course, don't forget to put that fact that it's not peak hours now into consideration. I'd better go get some sleep now before the sun rises. *yawns*

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